Carson is personally respected by the broadest of constituencies. His supporters at the ballot box are RELATIVELY few, but they are ultimately LOYAL to him and his ideals.

This makes his endorsement extremely important. It is even more important because it comes on the heels of what is clearly an attempt by Trump to pivot from bombastic to “presidential” and under control. Carson’s support will give this pivot validity to a lot of people.

And, yes, there will be a position in the Trump administration for Carson. But, I also think Carson is concerned about the destructive forces afoot in the Party by the action of the Party elites to undercut the will of the people.

I call them as I see them. IMHO - bottom line - Trump just solidified his stranglehold on the nomination. He will be the nominee. There will be no contested convention.

The idiot elites in the Republican Party - Romney, Jeb Bush, et al - by stepping in attempting to put their thumb on the scales of the nominating process, have done for Trump what he probably could not have done on his own. That is, begin bringing the Party together, but this time with the elites on the outside looking in.

This news coming on the cusp of JEB Bush meeting with Rubio, Kasich, and Cruz makes it even all the more interesting.

All I’ll make of it is the elites doing everything they possibly can to MAKE SURE there’s a brokered convention.

*JFTR, I don’t fault Cruz for attending said meeting. Yeah, it’s awkward, to say the least, but until I hear what came of said meeting, I’ll hold off making any judgements on that move.
No, I won’t. He just assigned Neil Bush to his campaign finance committee. The isn’t boding well for Cruz.

My inclination to pronounce Trump the inevitable winner 2 weeks ago was beginning to look like it might have been premature, as Cruz appeared to be gaining enough momentum to send the nomination to a contested convention - that is, until we witnessed what passed for the debate last night and especially the Carson endorsement this morning.

I think Trump has a decent shot at taking Ohio, despite Rubio’s “death throws” appeal to his voters this morning that they might want to vote for Kasich in order to thwart Trump in Ohio. I think a Trump win in Ohio is very doable and a win in Florida VERY likely. In short, I think Trump is better than even money to win both states - if he does he should have no difficulty securing the 1237 delegates necessary to secure the nomination on the 1st ballot in Cleveland.

The timing of Ben Carson’s endorsement could not come at a better time for Trump or a worse time for Cruz.